By Chilli Pepper

Early in his escapades, the protagonist in my novel hires a cook from Bombay, now known as Mumbai, who has been enjoying a short holiday in Calton Prison owing to friction after his cooking disagreed with his employer’s digestion.

Dean Mahomed opened the first restaurant dedicated to serving Indian curry in London in 1810. The Hindoostane Dinner and Hooka Smoking Club offered not just dine-in curry, but patrons could purchase takeaway to eat at home. Although the first dedicated curry restaurant didn’t open until 1810, curry wasn’t a novelty. In 1798 when grocer, John Caird received a delivery of “Real India Curry Power” at his shop in Edinburgh, he placed an advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening Courant boasting of its availability. Knobs from all over Edinburgh flocked to John’s grocery to purchase a canister for two shillings and sixpence.

The globe-spanning nature of the British empire meant its citizens were familiar with and might crave foods from far-flung territories. And curry was no exception.

This week is National Curry Week in the United Kingdom when Britons celebrate a dish that has become nearly as synonymous with their rainy streets as fish and chips. According to business listings there are fourteen thousand Indian restaurants in the United Kingdom. My former home, Edinburgh, has a paltry one hundred and three Indian restaurants — far behind London with its generous selection of over a thousand — leaving each restaurant to service nearly five thousand residents. Unthinkable.

Although the Empire has dwindled since the late nineteenth century, there’s almost nowhere you can go where you won’t be able to get a curry. However, if you happened to score some of Mr Caird’s curry powder, you could use it in the recipe for Lamb Curry from Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy:

Lamb Curry with Saffron Rice

For the curry

• Cooked lamb, diced (leftover)
• 25g butter
• 150ml lamb stock
• 200ml double cream
• Curry mix

Dice the cooked lamb into bite-size pieces and set aside.
Melt butter in a frying pan. Add the curry mix and fry for about 10 seconds. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cream and the cooked lamb pieces. Simmer for a further 10 minutes then serve.

For the rice

• Plain rice
• Saffron, pinch
• Butter

Concurrently cook plain rice with a pinch of saffron. Once cooked and drained, return to the pan with a bit of butter.

I’m unlikely to pick this over chicken vindaloo or any of the more well seasoned curries I prefer, but by comparison to a roasted cut of pork or beef, this must have been a taste explosion to many eighteenth and nineteenth century diners.

I hope you have a chance to get out and enjoy a curry this week, but don’t let the cooking disagree with your digestion.